Both styles are characterized by boulder stones, clay balls and large cauldrons for the hot water as well as stone stoves with a tank to heat the water. In the former, the escaping smoke darkens the banya 's interior wood. In a "black banya" (or, more precisely, "black-way", по-чёрному, po-chyornomu), the smoke escapes through a hole in the ceiling, while in "white banyas" ("white-way", по-белому, po-belomu) there are exhaust pipes to vent the smoke.
Getting a good sweat is thought to protect and condition the skin from the steam. People enter the steam room when the stove is hot, but before water is poured on the rocks. There are wooden benches across the room. Water from a bucket by the stove is poured over the heated rocks in the stove. The top of the water tank is usually closed to prevent vapour from infiltrating the banya. The heater has three compartments: a fire box that is fed from the entrance room, the rock chamber, which has a small hole to throw the water into and a water tank at the top. The washing room has a hot water tap, which uses water heated by the steam room stove and a vessel or tap for cold water to mix water of a comfortable temperature for washing. The entrance room, called a predbannik (предбанник) or pre-bath, has pegs to hang clothing upon and benches to rest on. Russian banyas usually have three rooms: a steam room, a washing room and an entrance room.
The Portuguese António Nunes Ribeiro Sanches, court physician in Russia, acquainted western physicians with the effects of banya through his 1779 De Cura Variolarum Vaporarii Ope apud Russos īanya buildings can be quite large with a number of different bathing areas or simple wooden cabins like the traditional Finnish cottage saunas. Hence the soot and the term "black bathhouses" ( chernaya banya). Once the fire is built, the bather then removes the fire and flushes out the smoke before beginning the bath. A stove in a corner is made of large round stones that, when heated, are lifted with iron rods and placed in a wooden tub. The original bathhouses were detached, low-lying wooden structures dependent on a fire lit inside to provide heat. They make of the act not a mere washing but a veritable torment." They think nothing of doing this every day, and actually inflict such voluntary torture on themselves. Then they drench themselves with cold water, and thus are revived. They actually lash themselves so violently that they barely escape alive. They warm them to extreme heat, then undress, and after anointing themselves with tallow, they take young reeds and lash their bodies. "Wondrous to relate," said he, "I saw the land of the Slavs, and while I was among them, I noticed their wooden bathhouses. Supposedly the belief was held that Andrew crossed through East Slavic lands from the mouth of the Dnieper River, past the hills on which Kiev would later be founded, and went as far north as the ancient city of Novgorod. According to the Chronicle, or as it was called by its authors, The Tale of Bygone Years, the Apostle Andrew visited the territories that were later to become Russia and Ukraine during his visit to the Greek colonies on the Black Sea. men closed the bath-house behind them and Olga gave orders to set it on fire from the doors, so that the Drevlians were all burned to death." Īn early description of the banya comes from the East Slavic Primary Chronicle of 1113.
"When the Drevlians arrived, Olga commanded that a bath should be made ready for them and said, 'Wash yourselves and come to me.' The bath-house was heated and the unsuspecting Drevlians entered and began to wash themselves.
The leader of the Drevlians had hopes of marrying the widow Olga and sent messengers to discuss the idea. 6 Comparison with thermal bathing in other culturesĪ mention of the banya is found in the Radziwiłł Chronicle in the story of Princess Olga's revenge for the murder of her husband, Prince Igor, by the Slavic tribe of Drevlians in 945 AD.2 Cultural significance in Russian culture.